Jason Apuzzo, one of the heads of the Liberty Film Festival and a devotee of George Lucas, reviews Episode III with minor-to-middling spoilers. He largely addresses the faux-controversy about Lucas making remarks about Bush and the Iraq War as represented in this movie, and puts that into perspective.

I don’t really agree with Apuzzo’s take regarding Lucas. I think Lucas is a terrific “imagineer” and he can create a decent plot, but he’s a mediocre dialogue writer. Considering how many stand-out bits of dialogue were in the first and second Star Wars films, and even some in “Jedi”, I have to think that it’s just a matter of focus. These days, Lucas would rather play with his toys than concern himself with dialogue that sings, but he doesn’t want to put the writing in another’s hands.

Then again, there are many indications that this story is much better than the two-dimensional “Attack of the Clones”, as Apuzzo points out:

Lucas and McDiarmid do something exceptional with the Palpatine character in this film: they make him vulnerable, three-dimensional, human. Palpatine is clearly gambling when he reveals himself to Anakin. His years of planning may all go for naught if the erratic Anakin decides to side with the Jedi, after all.

…In the midst of all this, only Palpatine is actually listening to Anakin – while, of course, manipulating him. It’s this aspect of the tragedy that is most effective, and what ultimately ensures that Sith is a compelling film.

Now, I’ve heard that playwright Tom Stoppard was called in to do some dialogue for Episode III. That gives me hope for when I see it at noon on Thursday. Then again, John Podhoretz really hates the dialogue…and in his review, he offers up just a sampling of the trite text that will no doubt be making us all cringe in a couple days.

Lucas had more than a quarter of a century to figure out why Anakin Skywalker went bad. And here’s what he came up with: Anakin is afraid of losing his wife Padmé in childbirth. Padmé tries to reassure him: “I promise you I won’t die in childbirth,”

I sure hope this movie is good. I really, really would like to leave the movie with the feeling that this Star Wars didn’t suck as badly as the last two.